Man's Best Friend
by TheLightsShadow
Summary: Sasuke has a golden retriever named Naruto. His dog, disappears one day and while he is frantically looking for his lost dog, he meets a tanned blond named Naruto… someone that seems to know an awful lot about him...coincidence? I think not.
1. Another Day Gone bad

_**-**_**blushes- Um, hi… this is my first fic… so I'm kinda shy. -kicks imaginary rock- **

**Um, I don't usually write, I'm really like a huge yaoi fan... but anyways, I was telling my friend an idea for a Naruto fanfic, and she practically bugged me to death about writing it..so yeah, here it is. I hope she'll get off my back now. :P**

"_Dogs talking"_

"People talking"

_Dogs thinking_

'_People thinking'_

**Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto**

**Just Another Day, Gone Bad**

The bright yellow sun peeked through the dark blue curtain of the room, and landed on a golden retriever's snout. The Naruto whined lightly at the disturbance of its peaceful sleep, and rolled over to escape. He only succeeded in bumping into his master's bed side table, knocking the alarm clock off of it, and have it land on his unsuspecting head; resulting in a small yelp.

The dog's deep blue eyes, peeked open.

_Looks like its time to wake my bastard up._ Naruto thought as he stretched and yawned. Then glancing up and placing his forearms on the bed, Naruto then looked to see where his master was laying.

Under navy blue colored covers, rested Uchiha Sasuke. The brunette was 19 years old, and was a college student by day and worked at night.

Taking note of his master's position on the bed, the dog proceeded to jump high up in the air and land right on Sasuke chest.

The man instantly woke up with an audible "oof" and Naruto started to lick his master ferociously. Sasuke pushed the retriever back and sighed, "I'm up, I'm up."

"_That's what I thought_" Naruto barked and walked toward the kitchen with the man not too far behind.

They both fell into routine.

Naruto sat in front of his food bowl, while Sasuke boiled a pot of water for ramen. When he had first gotten the dog, he refused to eat anything else except it. At first, he worried that Naruto wasn't getting the nutrients he needed, but every time they went to the vet, he was told Naruto was completely healthy. They had even asked him what he fed Naruto, saying that his coat was very soft and shiny. Sasuke had stuttered and quickly changed the subject afterwards.

When the water boiled, Sasuke place the "hunk of plastic" into the pot, put two slices of bread into the toaster, and left the kitchen.

The dog huffed slightly and wondered why it took water so long to boil, when Sasuke walked back into the kitchen dressed in his jogging suit. After he prepared the retriever's ramen, he put jelly on his toast and sat down at the table and nibbled at it.

It was quiet.

Sasuke looked over at the animal gobbling down it food. _'He's getting chubby again… I'm going to have to cut down his food and take him jogging with me **everyday**.'_ he smiled slightly.

"Oi, Naruto."

The dog's ears perked up, "_What?! Can't you see that I was eating?"_ Naruto barked.

Sasuke's smile turned into a smirked as leaned forward so he was eye to eye with the dog. "You've been putting on some weight," pinched the side of the dogs face. "I think me and you," he was pointing at Naruto, "are going to have to run every**_day_**" he ended with an evil chuckle.

Now Naruto wasn't the smartest crayon on the box, but he knew what was good and what was bad by his bastard's facial expressions. This one was bad. Naruto tried to understand what he was saying, with the hand gestures and what not… but couldn't get all of it.

Now he was left there, waiting for the unknown to happen. Naruto hated not knowing, so he settled for whimpering and tucking his ears back.

Sasuke smiled and leaned back against the chair. He liked communicating with his dog. Everyday that he did it, it seemed Naruto was getting better at understanding what he was saying. This was good.

After the two were finished eating, Sasuke tugged Naruto by his collar, attached his leash to it and walked out the front door.

"It's chilly this morning." Sasuke breathed, and pat Naruto on the head. The dog, in turn, wagged in appreciation.

And the two set off, first at a brisk power walk, then a jog and finally a full run.

_This isn't so bad_, Naruto thought as he ran to keep in step with Sasuke. The retriever would go jogging with his 'bastard' two or three times out of this week, to either just to keep himself in shape or to get some fresh air. _I wonder what the bastard was sayi-_

Naruto stopped instantly, and nearly made Sasuke trip in the process. "What the hell? Why did you stop?! C'mon!" Sasuke tugged the leash, but his did not want to move. The young man growled lightly, but stopped when he saw Naruto sniff the air.

"Oh god.." Sasuke's eyes widened, "Don't tell me its-"

"SAAAASSUUUUUKKEEEE-KUUUUUUUUUN!!!!!!"

"_NAAARRRUUUUUTTOOOO-KUUUUUUN!!!!!!"_

"Dammit! I forgot today was Thursday!" _'She always goes jogging on Thursday!'_

"_Aw crap its Lee!"_

There. Running towards them was Haruno Sakura with her hairy, ink, black dog named Lee.

You see, Sasuke and Naruto didn't like Sakura and Lee, very much. Why…?

One: Sakura sprayed lots of perfume on and loved to smother Sasuke. Thus, Sasuke smelt horribly and Naruto (in order to save his nose) would stay away from Sasuke as long as possible until he took a shower.

Two: Lee wagged his tail all the time and liked to rub up against Naruto (in a show of affection)… shedding his black fur ALL over Naruto. The retriever would then looked like a half-breed, with a hair problem. Naruto didn't want to be lumped up in the same hair category as Lee, so he also would try to avoid the dog. Sasuke would have to deal with the chunks of black fur ALL over his apartment.

Three: …well, all the above had a negative affect on Naruto, so he decided (Something he thought he heard his bastard say) to kill one bird with two stones. Keep the pink thing away from bastard, and she will be Lee away. Everyone would be happy… well, except Sakura and Lee but that didn't matter.

_Ok.. Keep pinkie away._

"BARK! BARK! BARK BARK BARK!!" Naruto bared his teeth at the woman. _I don't want her near my bastard!_

Sasuke pulled on the leash, _'Naruto, you couldn't have picked a better time to start barking!'_

Sakura, through all this, came up short and her eye brow furrowed in confusion. "Sasuke-kun, what's wrong with your dog?"

"Uh… he's been kinda irritable lately, sorry." He tugged the leash some more to keep the retriever away.

"_Naruto-kun? Is it true?"_ Lee sniff slightly as if he was hurt. His eyes shun as tears brimmed in the corner of his eyes.

Naruto quickly told a lie, "_Uh, yeah…my bastard woke me up **really** early this morning. Earlier than usual. I just want to get home and sleep again…"_ he felt bad for fibbing, but he couldn't put up with the smells and fur any longer.

The dog in turn cocked his head to the side, _"But Naruto-kun, I thought you woke you master up? Isn't that what you told me?"_

_Fuck…_ Naruto cursed in his head. _"Uh, yeah I did tell you that… its just.. He woke me up this time… I don't know why… he just did."_ Naruto fibbed again.

The overly hairy dog seemed to buy it, _"I understand, sometimes my lotus flower wakes up extremely early too. I understand your pain! But its what we dogs must go through for the ones we love!"_ Lee put his paw over his chest and stuck his nose in the air as a make shift ocean wave, splashed in the background.

_This dog is so weeeeeeird…_Naruto looked up at his bastard and saw that he was trying to find a way to get away, nicely. _You idiot, just walk away…matter a fact, I'll do it for you!_ Naruto pulled at the leash harshly away from Sakura, practically dragging Sasuke with him.

"_GOODBYE NARUTO-KUN, I HOPE TO SEE YOU IN BETTER SPIRITS SOON!!"_ Lee yelped loudly.

"Huh? Oh! BYE SASUKE-KUN! I HOPE TO SEE YOU SOON!" Sakura yelled also.

Sasuke waved off handedly, and tried to slow his dog down. He did eventually when they turned the corner.

The boy immediately knelt down, eye level with the retriever, "Naruto, I don't know what had gotten into you back there, but I'm glad." He smile and scratched the dog behind his ears. "I can't stand Haruno, she's too clingy and she smells like she to a swim in ammonia." He chuckled and kissed the dog on his snout.

Naruto knew Sasuke was happy with him, because of his show of affection. He didn't do this often, and neither did Naruto, but they both enjoy and loved one another.

"_But its what we dogs must go through for the ones we love!"_ Lee's words rung in his head. He was right. He would go to great lengths to keep his bastard happy, even though he got on his nerves sometimes. But hey, best friends pissed each other off more than regular friends did.

Naruto's tongue lolled out and swiped Sasuke once on the cheek. Sasuke's one eye closed and laughed lightly.

It was these special moments that the two were glad they found each other. Most of the time, they just kept one another company and that was it. They took one day at a time, and let things flow easily around them. But that was ok, as long as they had each other, everything was fine.

Naruto saved Sasuke from loneliness and Sasuke had saved Naruto from being put down at the shelter. They were both grateful and showed it in very weird ways.

Sasuke pat Naruto one last time, and stood up again. "Lets go Naruto, looks like we won't be able to run as much as I planned, so we'll just run all the way home." Sasuke looked down, "Do you understand?"

"_For once, yeah I do, bastard!"_ Naruto barked.

"Good." Sasuke smiled again, and started running and Naruto matched it all the way home.

- - - -

Naruto laid on the floor in front of the door. He knew his bastard was going away soon, to where he didn't know. He was away for a long time, and while he was absent, bastard would take him to see another guy, and his dog named Gaara. He and Gaara never had any problems, what so ever. In a way, they were the same.

His owner had saved him from the shelter, too. Before then, he'd lived a lonely life on the streets, just like Naruto. Until, he was caught by people with nets and was thrown into a wired cage and then that when he met his owner. _White eyes… I think that's what he calls him._

As much as Naruto liked Gaara, he didn't really like to see Sasuke leave. Once, Sasuke didn't come get him until it was really late. The moon was nearly half way across the sky, when Sasuke had came. Naruto had thought Sasuke had forgotten about him, it hurt just thinking about it.

Sasuke walked into the living room, bathed and dressed in clean clothes, to see his golden retriever, sitting in front of the door, practically brooding. _'What's wrong with him?'_

Sasuke worried, knelt down and pat Naruto on the head. "Hey, whats wrong?"

Naruto only whimpered. So Sasuke felt the dog over, checking for anything that might be hurting the dog, _'Could he have done something to hurt himself while I was in the shower?'_ He didn't find anything physically wrong with him.

"Naruto… up." Sasuke commanded and Naruto did do obediently. He stepped back a few steps, and told Naruto to come to him. _'There isn't anything wrong with his walk… what could it be?'_

Sasuke sighed, and grabbed the leash and hooked it to Naruto collar. The dog whimpered more. Even more worried, Sasuke felt under the collar and didn't find anything abnormal. What was wrong with his dog?

Sasuke looked at the time, _'I don't have time for this…' _he stood up an walked towards the door _'I just hope that he'll be ok when I pick him up.'_

Naruto dug his feet into the floor, _Just stay here! Why do you have to leave?_

Sasuke, now, was even more puzzled. He tugged on the leash, "Whats wrong, Naruto? Why are you acting like this?" Sasuke pulled more harder.

_NO! I don't want to do! I want you to stay! Here with me! Is that so hard? Why can't I go with you?!?_ Naruto refused to budge. He was hell bent on staying were he was.

Sasuke sighed, walked over, and picked the large dog up. Naruto squirmed and wiggled in Sasuke's grip as he opened and walked out the door.

- - - -

"What took you so long Uchiha? Was traffic rough?" Neji inquired as Sasuke walked up to him in front of his house.

Sasuke sighed heavily and scratched his head, "No, I had a hell of a time getting Naruto into the car. He just wouldn't listen to me. He was fine when I went got into the shower, but when I got out, he just kept whimpering." During all this Neji knelt down and pulled the dogs face into his hands.

"I checked his over, but I couldn't find anything… he didn't want to leave the house or get into the car. I'm surprised I didn't have to struggle to get him out." Sasuke spoke.

"He looks sad." Neji's voiced professionally.

"Sad?"

"Yeah," Neji smiled lightly, "He probably doesn't want you to leave. Some dogs are like that… Gaara gets the same look in his eyes sometimes, when I'm about to leave somewhere."

Sasuke frowned and pressed his lips into a line, _'Am I not spending enough time with him?'_

Neji stood back up, "I'm going to go fun an errand real quick. Just walk him to the back with Gaara and set his leash on the hook."

Sasuke rose an eyebrow, "Then who is going to watc-"

"There dogs, Uchiha. Not children… I'm sure they can handle themselves for twenty minutes. 'Sides, Hiashi is inside, if something happens, he'll check on them." Neji turned around and walked towards his car and pull away.

The brunette looked down at his retriever, "Naruto?" sad blue eyes met guilty black ones, "C'mon, boy. Lets go see what Gaara is doing." Sasuke said, and walked through the house towards the fenced backyard.

There, a red dog with wavy hair, trotted towards them.

"_Hey Naruto."_ Gaara sniffed his nose.

"…_Hey Gaara."_

Sasuke unhooked his leash, and knelt down in front of him. He took his face in his hands, just like Neji did, and pressed his forehead against his; looking him straight in the eye.

"Please… don't be sad, Naruto. I don't like to see my best friend sad… just stay here and be a good dog, and I'll be back before you know it, ok?" _'I don't have to work today, as soon as I get out of school, I'll take him to the park and bring a Frisbee with me. I'm sure he'll enjoy that.'_ Sasuke leaned back and stood up. Naruto whimpered louder, trying to tell him not to go but he only got a pat on the head.

"_What was that all about?"_ Gaara asked, when Sasuke left.

"_I don't want him to leave…"_ Naruto sulked as he looked at the door. He tried to understand what Sasuke was saying to him. His ears perked and he turned his head sharply towards Gaara.

"_Gaara! You can understand what humans are saying! What did he say?!"_ Naruto licked Gaara's nose, pleadingly.

"_I can understand some of what he was saying… he said something about not being sad, and being back before… something. I couldn't' really tell. He was saying it too fast for me to understand."_ Gaara rubbed against Naruto as he pondered about the information he was given.

Gaara was slightly smaller than him, but they had the same shape. Naruto thinks that he is a smaller breed of retriever.

Gaara's tail started wagging, _"Naruto! Come over here, I want you to see something!"_ he then ran toward the corner of the yard, between the fence and tree.

Naruto, of course followed. If it was something that made Gaara excited, then it had to be good!

There behind the tree, was a little place that was dug out underneath the fence. There was enough room for them to squeeze through one at a time. Had Gaara been working on this?

"_We, can get through here and be free! Lets go, Naruto!"_ Gaara's tail, if possible, wagged even faster.

Naruto pondered this over, _'We could run around… like before when we didn't have homes…but what if we were caught again? By those people with the net… I would never see my bastard again!'_

Gaara calmed down, and practically saw what the retriever was thinking. _"Don't worry, Naruto. If we do get caught, they'll take us back here."_ he then nipped Naruto's collar and the dog tags jingles together. _"Do you see these shiny things, my white eyes says that if I get lost, those people will bring me home. The same goes for you, Naruto. So there's nothing to worry about."_

'_So that's what these are for… neat. I guess I could- wait!'_

"_Gaara, what about your bastard? Won't he be worried if he comes back he and see that we're gone? Dear, god… he'll tell Sasuke, and then he'll get worried! I can't do that to him!"_ Naruto argued.

"_Calm down, Naruto. We'll only be gone for a while, so we'll be back before white eyes even walks back here."_ Gaara paused and looked Naruto in the eyes. _"Don't you want to be free? Even only for a while? To remember the feeling of not having a leash weighing around your neck? To run as fast as your can, as far as you can without worrying about being pulled back? don't' you want to feel that again, Naruto?"_

As Gaara spoke, Naruto felt every part of him become alive with want. The want to stretch your legs as you run, the want to feel the wind glow through your fur. The want of being free. Why was he even questioning it? Why would he even pass up something thing good?

"_Gaara… has anyone told you that you have a way with words?"_

Gaara's eyes sparkled with excitement and he dove for the hole with Naruto right behind him.

As soon as he was on the other side, Naruto already felt different. A good different.

Gaara, turned around and looked at him… he felt the same thing, so it wasn't his imagination.

And they took off. They ran, fast. So fast, everything seemed to blur around them. Naruto ran faster, wanting more wind running through his fur. Gaara ran along side him, and they both turned sharply as they came out of the ally way. They felt like they were flying, like nothing could catch them! Nothing could hold them down! They were free!

They ran until they were a few blocks away, and stopped. Both panting happily, and seemed to share the same twinkle in his eyes.

After running around some more, the two laid underneath a well shaded tree. Naruto rested his head next to Gaara's. _"Gaara, this is definitely the greatest idea you **ever** had… and you've had some good ones!"_

Gaara only laughed lightly and nudge Naruto's head. It felt like they had been away only a short while. But Gaara knew, that with Naruto, time seemed to speed up. They probably needed to get back.

"_We need to go back, Naruto… white might be on his way home."_

Naruto's head shot up and looked over at him. They had been gone for a while…

Naruto's eyes flickered and he stood up, _"Hey…Gaara, how 'bout a race? Lets see who can make it back first."_

Gaara stood up too, _"You, my friend… are **so** on!"_

They took off again.

Faster, faster, faster, faster!

They were both nose in nose, breathing hard, claws tapped against the ground as their paws met it.

Naruto forced his legs to move in longer strides, and just as fast. He pulled ahead, he was going to win!

Naruto was just about to turn the corner that let to ally that let to the back yard of Gaara's home, when he ran into something. Someone.

It was a solid body, stiff and sturdy that stopped him with an audible, "oof". Gaara stopped before hand, but still ran into Naruto.

Both, looked up to see an man with long white hair, looking down at them. He seemed to be visually examining them… what could he want?

"_Gaara… I think we need to get out of here."_ He whimpered to his red furred friend.

"_I think so, too…"_ Gaara spoke back.

They were about to scurry away, when the man grabbed their collar, and yanked them harshly towards a white van.

"Tsunade-hime! I've found two dogs! Are they good enough?" Then, a woman with a (HUGE) chest, opened the car door and walked towards them.

'_This isn't good!'_ Naruto thought, and quickly bit the man's arm. Hard.

The white haired giant instantly let go, and Naruto ran. Behind him was yelling, and scrambling and a few yelps. At the yelps, Naruto stopped instantly and looked back.

The two strangers were struggling to detain him, but they were slowly doing it. _'No! I'm not leaving Gaara behind!'_

Without thinking, Naruto doubled back. Running as fast as he could, he rammed into the woman and knocked her down. The man still had a hold of Gaara around the scuff of his neck, and he sunk his teeth into his flesh.

Gaara, seeing his opportunity, pulled away this time and ran. Naruto let go to do the same, when the lady with a huge chest, practically tackled him! Her full weight was on top him, rendering him unable to move, to run away.

Gaara stopped and turned around, and saw. He saw his red friend was going to turn back and help him too, but Naruto barked. _"NO! Gaara run away! Please don't come back! Just keep running!"_

His friend eyes, widen _"No! I'm not leaving you!"_

Naruto felt his collar being pulled off, _"I don't' want you getting caught, too! Your bastard needs you!"_

"_Yours does too!"_ Naruto saw his collar being tossed to the side, and Gaara ran towards them. He didn't see anything as he was thrown into the back of the van, and the doors were closed, leaving him in the dark.

**-blushes- So yeah, thats it. Sorry, I left it at a cliff hander... but I felt that if I that if I went any further, it would be ridiculously long... and I didn't want that. **

**If you've noticed, the dogs call there owners something other than their names; Naruto, _his bastard_, Lee: _his lotus flower_, Gaara: _his white eyes_. I'm just trying to make them sound more... you know, dog-like. Dogs feel like the type of animal, to call their owner theirs. For some reason... it just feels right. -shifts uncomfortably- **

**... If this doesn't get any positive feed back... then I'll discontinue it. **

**Heh heh, anyways...please review! -smiles-**


	2. Where'd You Go? I Miss You So

**-squeals- OMG… O.O did I really get 52 review!? -gasp- I DID! I would have never thought that a lot of people would have responded to nicely to this…**

**(T-T) You guys make me so happy -sniff- I've gained so much confidence!**

**You guys have made me the happiest authoress there is -sniff-**

**I just want to apologize, that it took me so long to update. I was in a car wreck, and I receive a concussion and I broke my leg, heh. But hey, it wasn't my fault… it was the other driver. **

**And just so you guys know… air bags can really kill you. I never realized it, until my friend (in the passenger) almost died. Yes, the same one that was bugging me about writing this fic. But she's fine now, thank god.**

**Anyways, here's chapter 2 guys, enjoy.**

"_Dogs talking"_

"People talking"

_Dogs thinking_

'_People thinking'_

- - - - Time change

Location change

**Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto**

**Where'd You Go?** **I Miss You So.**

Sasuke felt a chill run down his spine as he sat down I his desk, _'What the hell was that?_ He thought and shifted in his chair. The felling of anxiety faded, but a hint of dread was still there.

'_Something's not right…'_ The Uchiha frowned, and out of habit looked around the classroom. It looked like there teacher, Mr. Hatake, would be late again. He sighed and thought of countless ways to discreetly get back at him for his unexplained tardiness.

Besides, he wanted to get back to his dog. Naruto wasn't usually like that, and the way be looked up at him, with his big blue eyes filled with so much hurt. He never wanted to see that look in his eyes again. So, right after he dropped the retriever off; he went to a near by store and bought a Frisbee and a tennis ball, because he didn't want to go all the way back to the house and get them.

Sasuke's thoughts were interrupted when Yamanaka Ino and Inuzuka Kiba sat down next to him.

"Hey, Uchiha!" The brunette slapped him on the back a couple of times, and Sasuke shot him a glare for the contact as he sat down.

He then braced himself for Ino's FanGirl Death Grip and squeaky voice, but it never came. Cautiously he glanced in her direction, and found that she had her head downcast and was sniffling lightly. Curious, he raised his brow at Kiba in question.

"Hm?" Kiba then looked in the blond's direction. "I dunno… he was like that when we met up. She won't talk about it no matter how much you bug her."

"Let me try." It was rare, but Sasuke did care for the girl, **to an EXTENT**. He would never date her, like she wanted to… but she was a… what's the word? Friend? Yeah.. That sounded about right. She was a friend.

"Ino? What is-" He started, but-

"_OH SASUKE-KUN! ITS HORRIBLE! I CAN'T FIND MY DOG!"_ Ino wailed and latched onto her beloved and started sobbing uncontrollably.

Kiba rolled his eyes, _'I asked, and I get nothing. But when Sasuke barely says anything, she goes and spills her soul! Man, that'll be the last time **I** ever care.'_

"Your dog?" Sasuke's voice was strained as he tried to wiggle out of Ino's clutches. "When did you lose him?"

Her sobbing continued and she muffled into the raven's blue shirt, "I didn't lose him! Someone took him from me!" Ino raised her head and sniffed "I was playing with Shikamaru in the park, 'cause most of the time he would just lay around. But that day he was a little perky and I wanted to take advantage of that." the two boys, winced; the more the distressed girl talked, the higher her voice was getting.

"So, I threw the ball and it went over a bush and like a good dog… -sniff- he went after it. I waited and waited for him to come back -sob- but he didn't!"

"Uh Ino, maybe he-" Kiba tried to talk.

"_Wait, dog boy! I'm not finished yet!"_ She went from being very unhappy to hopping mad in .2 seconds. Kiba bit his tongue to keep from snapping back.

Sasuke spoke, "Go on Ino… what happened next?" Jesus, he was just too caring today.

"Ok. -sniffle- So I went to find him when he didn't come back, but before I could get to do that, I heard him bark and then yelp.. Like.. like someone had hit him! I ran as fast as I could, but I wasn't fast enough and I saw this guy with white hair putting him in the back of a white van and drive away!" Her eyes welded up and she started to cry uncontrollably again; and used the Uchiha's shirt as a handkerchief.

Kiba's eye's widened, "Did you call the police?"

"Of course I did! But they couldn't do anything, the van didn't have a license plate."

Sasuke remained stoic and calculated everything that Ino just said, and found that there was nothing that she could do. "Ino… was Shikamaru wearing his tags?"

She had calmed down some and answered steadily. "He was wearing his tags when we were together, but after the van drove away… I found them on the ground." she said as he dug into her bag, and pulled out the leather collar.

"Was it unhooked when you found it?"

"Uh, it was still hooked together. Why Sasuke-kun?" This was how Sasuke worked. He asked questions so he could see the whole scenario in his head.

She said she heard a bark, and that must have been when the man had tried to approach Shikamaru. Then, when the dog would cooperate, he must have hit him… or something and slipped the collar over his neck and carried him over to the van.

But was the he knocked out… or just immobile?

"Dude… that means that Akamaru is in danger! And I left him in the backyard this morning! Oh god… I GOTTA GET HOME!" now Kiba was panicking. Great.

"Calm down, Kiba. Nobody in there right mind would take your dog **out** of your yard." Sasuke said, and Kiba gave him a bored look.

"Well, no one in there right mind would take a dog out of a park in broad **daylight**, but it happened, _**didn't it?!**"_

'_He has a point…'_ he regrettably admitted.

"Look, everything will be fine." Sasuke turned and looked at the girl next to him, "I'm sorry for what happened to your dog Ino, but I can't think of anything you could do. I don't even know why someone would kidnap a dog in the first place. I doesn't make sense." He then looked over at Kiba, "And I know that you care deeply for Akamaru and you have frequent sex with him, but I don't think they would be after your mutt."

"Dude, you seriously need to stop doing that. Why the hell would I want to have sex with my dog?" A vein popped out of Kiba's tanned forehead.

"I don't know, I was hoping you'd answer that." Sasuke smirked.

"Shut it, Uchiha!" the dog-lover then poked him in the side. "You know what? I think I might have found the source of all your anger, Uchiha."

Sasuke rose a brow at the quick change in topic. "Oh, really?"

"Yeah, it's something called 'sexual frustration'." the raven rolled his eyes. "I'm serious man! You need to release some tension." Kiba crossed his arms and nodded as if he knew that would solve everything.

"Sorry to disappoint you, but I don't plan on being in a relationship anytime soon."

Ino pepped up at this, "Why not, Sasuke-kun? I'd be happy to take the position of being your girlfriend." she smiled charmingly.

"You'd like that wouldn't you?" Kiba had a tired look on his face. Everyone knew that Ino was wanting to get in the Uchiha's pants the instant she met him.

Kiba then smirked when he got an idea, "But, didn't you know that Sasuke is gay?"

Sasuke remained stoic while Ino gasped, "What?!" she clasped her hands and looked at the raven.

"Tell him to stop, Sasuke-kun! You're not gay!"

Silence.

The brunette snickered and the blond looked like she was about to freak out, "You aren't gay… are you? Please tell me he was only joking."

'_If I say that I am, will you stop asking me out and leave me alone?'_ Sasuke thought and stayed quiet.

When there was no response, Ino went into another fit of tears. "No! First my cute Shikamaru is taken and now Sasuke-kun is slipping out of my grasp!"

Kiba and Sasuke remained in silence when the blond ran away.

"…"

"…"

"So…" Kiba started, "are you really gay?"

"…I haven't really thought about it…"

Kiba's eyes popped out of his socket and rolled under a near by desk. "Your not actually considering it, are you?! I was just joking!"

Sasuke turned away and grinned slightly, it was so easy getting the brunette riled up.

It was true. He hadn't really thought about liking other guys. It really never occurred to him. Heh, but just to tease Kiba… he turned around and leaned closer.

"I'm not joking… but, I don't know if I do, though… do you… wanna help me find out?" he used his soft bedroom voice and he lowered his eye lids a fraction, giving the other, a sensual look.

This succeeded in making the dog-lover fall backwards in his chair and land on the ground.

"**_NO!_**" Kiba squawked as he tried to make his mad blush go away.

Sasuke chuckled, "Calm down, Inuzuka. I was only kidding."

Kiba was in his chair by then, "When the hell were you able to do that?!?"

Sasuke laughed more openly now.

- - - -

It had taken Mr. Hatake a long time (as usual) to get there. His excuse was along the lines of 'Yo! Sorry I'm late, but a met a cute dolphin along the way, and I just **had** to find out where he was swimming to!'

How the hell do you come across a dolphin, anyways? He swore his teacher was on crack addicting cornstarch.

But fortunately, class was short and he was able to get out of school on time, as planned.

Sasuke closed the door to his car and sat there for a while. He was glad he didn't have to work today. Lately they had been working him to the bone, and when the boss had asked if he wanted a day off, he hurriedly answered yes.

Sasuke was just about to put the keys into the ignition when suddenly his pocket started to vibrate. He leaned back and dug into his pocket and say on the caller I.D

Hyuuga Neji

"Neji… what would he want?" The long forgotten feeling of dread was now back, and Sasuke was afraid the answer the phone.

Neji hung up the phone and resumed his pacing. Gaara and Naruto weren't in the backyard when he got home.

It was one thing that Gaara was gone… it would only affect him and him only. But Naruto too?

He was surprised Sasuke hadn't tore his ear drum and stomped on it over the phone. He really didn't say anything besides, "Stay there". If he was being quiet about it, then he definitely wasn't taking the news well. At all.

'_Ok, I was only suppose to be gone for half an hour, but I ended up staying away for an hour.'_ Neji walked out the front door. _'If I'm lucky, they could still be in the neighborhood… somewhere.'_

And before he could even take a step forward; two pale hands reached out, gabbed the front of his shirt and threw him against the wall. Neji clenched his eyes shut as the back of his head connected with the wall. The older hiss in pain and opened his eyes to see Sasuke, glare in place, his nose flared as he breathed… really hard.

"Fuck! What the hell was that for?!" Neji cursed as his head started pounding.

"Where the hell do your think you're going?" Sasuke's spoke through clenched teeth. "I was going to look for OUR dogs!" Neji paused, "Wait a minute… I just got of the phone with you! How did you get here so fast?!"

Sasuke let him go and turned to walk to the backyard, "I ran six red lights and went eighty in a thirty-five mph zone." he responded as if it was the most natural thing in the world.

"Jesus…" mumbled the brunette and followed the younger.

"I need to find out how they left the yard… did you leave the gate open?"

"Ok… now your just insulting me."

"…" Sasuke ignored that statement and randomly walked towards the lone tree in the yard. At first glance a normal person wouldn't have seen anything, but this was Uchiha Sasuke we're talking about.

A small place in front of the fence was dug up. You could clearly see the claw marks, slashed across the ground… it must have taken some time to do this.

"Hn… Neji, over here." said person walked over and bent over to take a look.

"It a hole." It was big enough for Naruto to go through and could clearly fit Gaara. "It looks like my little Gaara has been doing this project for some time now."

"How can you tell." at this question, Neji picked up some dead grass around the area. Grass that would have died if it wasn't re-rooted for about two or three days.

The younger boy looked at the alley ground and saw two pairs of paw prints heading in one direction. Then, without wasting anymore time, Sasuke hoisted himself over the fence with ease, and ran in that direction.

"Hey! Uchiha! Wait!"

But Sasuke ignored him.

He had a feeling something was there waiting for him. Naruto maybe? Gaara? A person that would be able to tell him were his dog was?

Sasuke's breaths came out in shirt puff when his feet met an empty street. There was no dog. No person. Nothing. Were his instincts wrong? Was his mind playing tricks on him?

Neji came to a stop next to him. "Why did you take off like that?" Sasuke looked over at Neji, and something in the background, twinkled, and caught his eye.

"Sasuke? Aren't you going to answer me?"

It was near the curb, and it seemed to shine more the closer he got to it. _'It's a collar.'_ he thought numbly and picked it up.

'_Its Naruto's collar._' he thoughts were empty as flashbacks of Ino's words and the golden retriever played in his head.

"_OH SASUKE-KUN! ITS HORRIBLE! I CAN'T FIND MY DOG!"_

Naruto jumped on him in bed, smiling happily.

"I didn't lose him! Someone took him from me!"

Naruto trotted into the kitchen and sat in front of his bowl, looking up at him expectantly.

"So, I threw the ball and it went over a bush and like a good dog… -sniff- he went after it. I waited and waited for him to come back -sob- but he didn't!"

Naruto licked him on the cheek as he scratched his ears.

"Ok. -sniffle- So I went to find him when he didn't come back, but before I could get to do that, I heard him bark and then yelp.. 

Naruto barked happily and chased after the thrown tennis ball.

"Like.. like someone had hit him! I ran as fast as I could, but I wasn't fast enough and I saw this guy with white hair putting him in the back of a white van and drive away!"

Naruto bounding back to him, his tail wagging in excitement and dropped the wet ball in his hand.

"He was wearing his tags when we were together, but after the van drove away… I found them on the ground."

Naruto rested his head in his lap and looked up at him with big blue eyes.

"_**Sasuke!"**_ the raven was shook out of his trance and Neji's voice grew in volume. "What the hell is wrong with you!? You were starting to hyperventilate!"

Sasuke looked down at his hands and saw that the collar was still hooked. "They took him…" his voice came out in a whisper.

Neji's voice soften considerably, "Who?"

Sasuke proceeded to tell him what happen with Ino and her dog.

"-and **her** dog's collar was still was hooked." he said at the end, Sasuke tentatively handed over Naruto's collar to other man; his bangs covering his eyes.

Neji reached out and received the item. He'd known the retriever for quite some time, and he wasn't the type to be friendly to a stranger. Especially when he was without Sasuke. _'But… if what you said is true.. then where is Gaara's?'_

His attention went back to the younger when he hastily turned around and started walking back, "Hold on, Uchiha-"

"No!" Neji had never in his life, heard Sasuke yell like that. It was a shaky kind of yell… like his was trying not to cry. "Someone has Naruto and we don't know why! I'm going to go look for him, with or without you!"

"You don't know that. They might have gotten the collar off of him, but it doesn't mean that they have him." Neji took a step forward, and tried to calm the Uchiha down.

"and if they are still out there; then they'll be fine. Naruto and Gaara use to be strays. This kind of thing isn't new to them… all we can hope is that they end up in a pound, that way we can find them." That last statement made Sasuke angry.

"Look at what is in your hand, dammit! Even if they are in the pound, that doesn't mean that I'll be able to get my dog back!"

Neji didn't say anything when Sasuke snatched the item back and continued to walk away.

- - - - a thirty minutes before - - - -

People gasped and shouted, while others pointed; a van was driving down the road normally, while a red dog ran full speed after it.

The animal's fur was wavy and red and flowed in the wind as it pushed itself to keep going.

Gaara forced air in and out of his lungs and urged his protesting legs to keep going, to keep following the vehicle that took his friend.

Gaara knew that if it wasn't for Naruto's constant barking, that he would have lost track of him. But he noticed the farther the van went, the more hopeless the retriever's cries were getting. He wanted so badly to answer back and reassure that he was going to save him… but he was too busy gulping air and trying to keep up; he could only hope that Naruto would keep his barks and yelps up.

Then the van, steadily and slowed down and pulled into a driveway, next to a house.

The red dog stopped a few meters away and greedily gulped air. _I've ran really far… if I manage to get Naruto out of here… I won't be able to find my way back immediately._

The two adults came out of the car and Gaara took note that the male was holding his arm. The same one Naruto had mauled when he was being held. No dog had ever done something like that for him. When the catchers had cornered him, all of his other 'friends' had left him high and dry and didn't even give him a second thought. Through it wasn't bad… it had led him to meet white eyes, it still hurt that he was left behind.

But when Naruto had come back, he saw his friend in a different light and there was no way that he would let Naruto go like that. He had chased after this van, fully intent of returning the favor of saving his friend.

The blond hit the white-haired man over the head before reaching to open the back door of the van. _That's all the rest I can get. I seed to strike now._ Gaara felt adrenaline pump through his veins and dashed forward as the blonde blond opened the door.

"C'mon, boy… its time to get you ou_-OUCH!_"

Gaara latched on to the woman's hind quarters, and jerked backwards. The male, gasped before trying to detach the hound; however, the woman wouldn't stay still and was trying to get him off as well.

In other words, it was like watching to retards opening the same jar.

"_Gaara!"_ Naruto's voice was loud and clear, as the blond continued to scream in pain. The red dog, let go immediately and backed off, _"Naruto! Let's get out of here!"_

"Fuck, that lil' bastard bit me! How the hell did he get here?" the woman screeched at the man.

Naruto braced himself, _"You got it, here I come!"_ then jumped of the back of the van, landed on the man's shoulders (and shoving him downward) and leaping towards his friend.

Naruto then started to lick Gaara graciously on the side of the face. _"Gaara, Gaara, Gaara! You came for me, even thought I told you not to! Oh god, I love you, I love!"_ the retriever said, his tail wagging insanely.

"_Enough of that! We need to**-YELP!**"_ Gaara felt something sharp, nail him in the side. The world began to spin so fast, and he felt the ground come up and hit him.

Naruto looked up and saw the woman have something in her mouth; she blew in it, and something small came out and hit him on the side of the neck.

The dog tried to bark, tried to get Gaara to stand up again, but found that his cries came out in whimpers. His world swirled around and round, until he knew no more.

Tsunade wiped her brow and sighed, "Jesus, these two are a handful." and watched as Jiraiya picked up the retriever.

"You can say that, again" the man grunted, and looked over at Gaara. "I'm guessing that you want to take him to?"

"Of course. If he can chase after us for that long, then he is definitely coming." Tsunade said as he bent down and picked him up too. "Alright then," Jiraiya walked over and pushed the door open. "I'm going to put this one on the examination table, and tell Orochimaru what happen to your ass. Heh, he's bound to get a laugh out of this one."

"JIRAIYA! You better not!" She harped, but it was no use. He was already inside.

She huffed some more, and looked down at the red dog in her arms.

'_These two… their obviously witty, more than the others. And they both went back for each other. Perfect for a soldier.'_

Tsunade smirked, _'These two will be the ones… I can feel it.'_

- - - -

Naruto's hazed world went faded from pitch black, to sun-light bright. He whimpered in dismay, discovered that he was being held down.

Looking up, he found the most ashen, the most sickly pasty-faced man he'd ever came across. His ink-black hair didn't make his complexion look any better, either.

The man was holding a syringe in his hand, and was coming closer.

Anything small and pointy, was bad in Naruto's book, and he began to struggle immensely. There was a curse that came from above him, and Naruto saw that it was the white haired freak, that was holding him down.

The blond came over and held his fore leg and pushed down in the middle, making his vein visible and easy to penetrate.

As he renewed his struggles, he heard the people above him start talking.

"Can't you do anything right, Jiraiya? Is the dog that strong?" The paper white man, hissed like a snake.

"Shut it, Orochi' I'd like to see you handle him better."

"Will you two, just shut up and do this!?"

There was a snort, and something pierced Naruto's skin. The clear liquid was pumped into his vein, and the dog could literally feel it travel through out his body. Painfully

It was like liquid fire, scorching his insides and burning everything in its path, and when it came to the center of his chest, he yowled so loud, he was sure everyone in the world could hear him.

"Let him go! We don't need him to die from stress, like the others!" the hand disappeared, and Naruto automatically jumped down from the table.

The dog was at a lost at what to do; first his body was scorching hot, to the point that he was about to pass out, and now his bones ached with tremendous pressure.

Naruto stumbled and ran into the wall, and leaned against it. His joints began to make a sickening pop and bend in another direction. He then felt like someone was taking a sledge hammer and pounding his snout inward, towards his eyes.

Naruto found that his paws were changing too. His claws popped off and his paw knuckles stretched to the extreme and all the while, Naruto's barks and yelps, turned into yells and screams. His cries were even mutating and he found that he could moving his mutated paws to touch his shoulders.

The three watched as the golden retriever mutated painfully. Narrow dog shoulders shaped into broad human ones, small paws stretched into large hands, hind legs popped into knees with sickening cracks along with the chest cavity.

Their last subject didn't make it this far, and died in the middle of the mutation. This one on the other hand, was going even farther than they had expected.

Tsunade watched with tears in her eyes, at the mutated being started clawing at its shoulders and pulling chunks of fur off, and underneath was bear human skin.

The transformation was complete.

Naruto just wanted everything to end. He wanted to sink back into oblivion and never wake up as he saw the three people surround him.

Naruto collapsed to the floor awkwardly, his new limps protesting every movement he wanted to make.

And as Naruto's eye's fluttered shut, he thought _No… I don't want to leave… my bastard._

**-wipes brow- Well, that's it for Chapter 2. I'm starting on Chapter 3 and it should be up soon.**

**It was very hard to write that last part, so hard… I had to listen to depressing music to get me in the mood… -looks back at it and has chills- can you imagine going through that?**

**Heh, heh anyways… next chapter Naruto and Sasuke meet. But until then…**

**Please review! -smiles**


	3. Finding You

**-tentatively walks into the room- Ok.. yes yes I know. I took a really long time to update -looks around- I know you all must be very upset at me -whimpers as readers close in- BUT I CAN EXPLAIN!**

**School was murder at the beginning and then my summer job got in the way... and I was being extremely lazy XP**

**Anyways, I want to thank Satski for beta-ing -hugs- Thanks again!!**

**Now.. without further ado!**

_"Dogs talking"  
_"People talking"  
_Dogs thinking  
_'_People thinking'_

- - - - Time change

;-;-;-;-;-; Location change

**Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto**

**Finding You**

Naruto was sitting in the middle of a hazy white fog; he couldn't see anything and he was afraid to move. The dog tucked his tail between his legs and called out, _"Hello?… bastard?! Are you there?!"_

Everything pulsed and the fog was slightly clearer but then he heard footsteps. The taps echoed all around him, and Naruto felt surrounded.

Now, even more scared than before, _"Bastard?! Is that you? Where are you?!"_

Another pulse.

The fog was getting transparent.

And then he felt something warm slide over his shoulders and squeeze his neck lovingly.

"Its ok, Naruto. I'm here, so you don't have to be scared anymore." his bastard's silk-like voice hummed next to his ear and the retriever turned around and whined happily and wagged his tail.

"_Where were you? I was so scared!"_ Naruto ignored the fact that he was being overly affectionate and started to lick Sasuke on the face.

His bastard chuckled, and started to pat him on the head. "What's wrong with you? Since when did you become such a scaredy cat?"

"_Did you just call me a cat?!"_ Naruto nipped his bastard's hand lightly to reprimanded him.

"Did you just bit me?" he felt Sasuke tug on his ear playfully… and it came off.

Naruto looked at his own ear in his bastard's hand "You pulled off my fucking ear, you bastard!"

He saw the other jump at his voice and Naruto, himself, was surprise at how different he sounded.

"Who are you?" the raven's voice cut him like a knife, and Naruto looked up at him from his sitting view.

"What do you mean? Its me! Naruto!" He ignored the fact that he could understand what the raven was saying and watched as Sasuke turned his back on him. He panicked.

"Wait! Bastard, where are you going?!"

"I'm going to look for **my** dog. Your not him!" Naruto was on the receiving end of his bastard's glare and that was enough for him to start crying.

"But… I'm Naruto…"

"No you not. Naruto is a dog. Your not." Sasuke started to walk away.

"You're not making any sense, bastard! I am a…" Naruto had initially reached out to Sasuke and stopped in mid sentence.

"…that's not mine…" Naruto in amazement and fear, stared at the appendage and wiggled the fingers. Quickly he looked at the rest of his body and saw he had no fur, no claws, and definitely no tail.

The, now man, looked in the distance and saw his bastard with another dog. He was smiling and laughing and talking. He'd forgotten all about him.

"B-bastard. Please, I don't want to be alone again…"

;-;-;-;-;-;

A blond thrashed in his bed. Still in the pits of his nightmare, he forcefully kicked the sheets off of him, only to reveal that he was wearing white shorts and a white T-shirt.

Naruto's eyes shot open but quickly closed them. The bright and warm sun shined brightly through a near by window, and landed on him unmercifully.

His lids peaked open again; he was in an unfamiliar white room, filled with stainless steel tables, a beeping sounding… and a little baggy filled with something transparent… leading **into** his arm!

Naruto, having trouble much with his new fingers, roughly yanked the IV tube out of his arm. Blood leaked out, and stained the white sheets that were covering his body. Naruto then pulled off some other wire that were suctions to his chest. There was a very long beeping sound that came after it and for some strange reason, it made Naruto panic.

So, without thinking, Naruto threw himself off of the bed and hit the ground with a heavy thump.

'_I have to get out of here!' _He thought and ignored the blood running down his arm.

Naruto heard tapping sounds coming down the hall way, someone was coming. This didn't help his panicked state either.

The blond rapidly looked for an escape route, _'The window!'_

He remember seeing his bastard opening one of them so it shouldn't be hard. The only hard thing was standing up. Naruto's legs were wobbly and hard to control, _'If I manage to get out of his window, then the hard part will be over!'_

The foot steps were getting closer now and Naruto finally got the right footing. He mimicked what he remembered from Sasuke and the window slid open. _'Oh thank you big guy in the sky standing next to the fire hydrant!'_

Naruto straightened his legs, making himself stand taller, and scrambled out the window.

His landing could've been better but that would be asking too much. Naruto superb sense of hearing, caught the sound of a door opening and a gasp _'Well someone knows that I'm gone now.'_

The blond then found refuge in bush. '_I need to figure out how to work these damn legs!'_

- - - -

For the past two and a half hours, Uchiha Sasuke was on foot, walking and asking if they had seen a golden retriever. He'd even asked if they had seen Gaara. No one had said anything.

But he had that feeling again, that if he kept going and didn't give up… he'd find something, anything that would lead him to find his dog.

"Excuse me, ma'am," Sasuke was now on the main streets, and was in front of a shop. The woman looked like she was in her thirties and she smiled warmly at him, "Have you seen a golden retriever anywhere around here? Or perhaps a red colored dog?"

"Hm," she tapped her chin in thought "Oh! I remember seeing a red dog."

'_Yes!'_ Sasuke nearly smiled at the information, "Can you tell me which direction he went? Please, I lost my dog today along with my friend's."

She pointed down the road, in the direction that he was heading in the first place. "The pretty red dog was running that way, but I didn't see a retriever with him, though."

'_Dammit. Gaara wasn't with Naruto. Where could he have gone to?'_ Sasuke started to walk away, when the woman said-

"It was at least an hour or so ago, sir. If your looking for the red dog, I don't think he'll be anywhere near here."

"Why do you say that?" Sasuke looked over his shoulder. "Nearly everyone saw him. The red dog was chasing a white van and the van had to at least be going thirty…" She trailed off when she saw the shocked look on his face. "Umm, are you ok?"

Sasuke didn't answer; his vision faded and he had a flashback as he remembered what Ino said.

"**-I ran as fast as I could, but I wasn't fast enough and I saw this guy with white hair putting him in the back of a white van and drive away!"**

It was just as he feared. Some fucked up people had taken his dog. _**His**_ dog.

"Hello? Are you ok?"

As Sasuke's vision reverted back, he saw the concerned eyes of the woman. "Yes, I'm ok. Thank you for everything." and he walked off.

His eyebrows knitted together, _'Ok, I know three things. A guy with white hair took Naruto inside a white van. And Gaara chased after the van… in short: If I find Gaara then I can find Naruto.'_

Sasuke, without thinking, ran down the road and noticed the sun was setting. _'Dammit!'_

He didn't run very far, just a block down before he stopped.

'_You are running blind, Sasuke… just calm down an-' _Something caught his attention.

To his right, in an alley, was a blond wearing all white. Bleeding.

- - - -

Naruto had manage to get this far, but something told him that if he was out in the open, he would be in danger. And Naruto was always one to listen to his instincts.

'_Damn I'm good!' _

Come to find out, human legs aren't so hard to use. Just find your balance and everything was ok!

Despite his white clothes being bloody and dried blood caked on his arm, Naruto was damn happy with himself. Naruto chuckled, _'I'll find my bastard in no time!'_

Hopefully.

The sun was setting and it was the beginning of autumn and when night came, it would bring the cold along with it.

Naruto was bracing himself along a building's wall and from what he could tell, he was in an alley. He wanted to keep moving but his body wouldn't let him. Naruto suspected it was because of the blood loss.

His legs wobbled and gave out, and Naruto knew he definitely wouldn't be able to move anymore.

"H-hey! Are you ok?!"

'_Wait… I know that voice.' _the blond looked up and saw the worried face of his bastard. The raven had knelt down and place his hands on his shoulders, "What happened do you? Hey! Are you ok?"

To say the least, Naruto was numb with shocked… insanely happy… and extremely tired. It had been a very long day for the newly turned human and all he wanted to do was go home and lay in his bastard's lap, until he fell asleep.

Naruto didn't even care to answer or acknowledge the fact that he could understand every word Sasuke was saying… all his did was lean in to the other; thinking that he was safe and able to finally rest.

Sasuke panicked. _'Dear god! He's gonna pass out!' _he shook the blond, "Don't pass out! I need to get you to a hospital! What's your name?!"

Naruto growled, this was an awful time for his bastard to be pissing him off. Why couldn't he just take him home!?

But things became clear. His bastard didn't know who he was. He didn't know what had happened to him and what was done to him.

Naruto looked up pleadingly at the raven, "B..bastard… you don't remember me?" he whimpered. Sasuke frowned at the name but quickly forgot about it when he saw the blond's deep cobalt eyes. _'Those eyes… where have I seen those eyes before?'_

"Have we met before? What's your name?" the raven shook off the feeling.

Naruto ignored the questions, "Please.. Just take me home. I just wanna go to sleep." his words slurred, and his eye lids felt like a ton of weight was pulling them down.

The raven whispered gently, "Ok ok, I'll take you home. Can you tell me where you live?"

He didn't receive an answer.

Naruto was snoring lightly, holding his bastard close to him.

- - - -

Sasuke straightened up and wiped his brow.

After the blond had passed out, Sasuke was forced to carry him _all_ the way back to his car (which was still at Neji's), stuff him in said car (it was a bitch trying to get the man to let go of him) drive him to **his** house then pick him up again (Cause Sasuke just couldn't wake him up no matter how hard he shook him), take him into the house, (Sasuke had a hell of a time trying to unlock the door) and set him on the couch.

'_God, why didn't I just take him to hospital? It would've been so much easier for me!'_

Sasuke walked into his kitchen, clicked on the light and accidentally kicked Naruto's bowl.

It slid across the kitchen floor with a hallow scraping sound that it tore at Sasuke's heart. With all the excitement revolving around the blond laying on his couch, Sasuke had completely forgotten about his golden retriever. Along with Sasuke's old guilt, new found some more compunction.

He felt his throat tighten up, his fist clenching, his heart pounding, the corner of his eye's stingin-

"Stop." Sasuke told himself. "Someone needs your help… just try to focus on that."

Moment later, he found himself wiping the dried caked blood off of the mysterious blond. There wasn't any wounds on him, it looked like he had an IV in his arm and he had taken it out without any concerns at all. Doing something like that would obviously result in heavy bleeding. '_If he had an IV in his arm… then I guess he was at the hospital… but why did he-'?_

Sasuke noticed the other was coming to and tried to sit up, "Take it easy. You've lost a lot of blood, so don't push yourself." he pushed the other back down.

Naruto felt the familiar surroundings of his home and saw Sasuke's sable eyes. "Bastard… we're home…" he said in a happily whisper.

"'We're'? This is **my** home… you don't live here." Maybe he was delusional from all of the blood loss, Sasuke thought.

"You.. don't remember me?"

"As far as I'm concern, I've never met you before today." Sasuke frowned, _'I'm sure I would've remembered you… there's no way anyone could forget your eyes.'_

The blond sat up despite the protests of his bastard and his body. "I know I look different.. But how could you forget me?"

"Wha-" but Sasuke was silenced when the gorgeous blond leaned forward and LICKED him smack dab on the face!!

Sasuke… just stood there. And gaped.

He didn't even know what to say after something like that! Sasuke could only watch the other's determined gaze.

"...you gave me the name...Naruto. Remember?"

TBC...

**-laughs evily-**

**I know, I'm horrible :D but there was no way I couldn't leave it like that! I want you guys squealing in atticipation! -lightning stikes in the background-**

**Hehe, thats like three cliffhangers in a ROW! LOL**

**Anyways, I hope you guys can find it in your heart to forgive the lateness :) I will try to update sooner!**

**Please review!**


	4. Naruto, come

**-turns around in chair while petting kitten in lap-**

**lol I've always wanted to do that! It makes me feel sinister:D**

**-gasp- I've 68 reviews! -jumps, throwing kitten out of lap, and started dancing- Oh yeah! Oh yeah!**

**So anyways.. I wrote this up last night.. all of it.**

**and I was listening to this one song, that I had on repeat. And let me tell you, that one song fueled my desire to write :) I never knew that could happen!**

**And to say the least, I'm nervous about this chapter... but at the same time I'm satisfied with it XD Pretty weird, huh?**

**Oh and I want to thank Satski for editing my fic!**

**Anyway, enough of my babbling! Read on!**

"_Dogs talking"_

"People talking"

_Dogs thinking_

'_People thinking'_

- - - - Time change

;-;-;-;-;-; Location change

**Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto**

**Naruto… come.**

Gaara paced back and forth in his cage.

What happened to Naruto? Where was the retriever? Was he alright?

All these questions kept being repeated in his head along with the guilt that he wasn't able to save his friend. _Some friend I am._ he though sarcastically.

"_So troublesome, could you please stop pacing?" _Gaara growled and looked at the other dog in the cage next to his. To say the least, this dog piss him off with his cool and laid back attitude.

He was a small black lab, slightly longer hair than usual and the hair on his tail was spiky. Weird. He'd never seen a lab as small as this one before. Maybe he was the runt of the litter…

"_I'll stop pacing whenever I fucking feel like it!"_ Gaara went to their sharing fence line and growled.

The lab, laying on his stomach and head resting on his paws, just sighed through his nose. _"Suit yourself. It was just getting annoying to watch. Save your energy and take a nice nap."_

"_Well I'm sorry I'm not calm like you, but I was taken along with my friend and I have no idea where he is at!"_ the red dog snarled as he bared his teeth. He was so worried and scared for Naruto. Something in his gut told him something had happened and he wanted to know what.

"_They must have already killed him."_ the lab said grimly.

"_What?"_ Gaara barked shockingly.

"_I've been here for two days already. And I've seen six dogs go through that door," _he pointed his snout at the only exit. _"and none of them have come back."_

"_When they leave, there are always shouts and screams from them. They're really loud. Anguish painful cries. I just assume that they're dying."_ the dark lab sat up and scratched his head with is hind leg.

"_Then when you were brought in here, I heard another dogs cries. I've never heard his voice before nor did it sound like the other dogs that were in here. His cries lasted longer than the others, and they started changing after a while. Its was really weird, but when they stopped… I assumed that he died as well."_

Gaara forced down a whimper. _No. it can't be, Naruto wouldn't go off and die just like that. Its not true._

"_My woman calls me Shikamaru. Its nice to meet you Red."_ the dog gave Gaara a lazy look before yawning and flopping back down.

;-;-;-;-;-;

Tsunade sighed for the _ninth_ time today.

How could she have lost their test subject? HOW?!

She knew she shouldn't have left the room to get that damn donut from the kitchen! She knew!! But she did it anyway.

'_I screwed up worst than Jiraiya would have and he'll never forget it.'_ she rubbed her temples.

And like clock work, said dumb ass walked through the door with Orochimaru.

"Man Tsunade-hime, I know I've had my days… but this one cuts the cake."

Orochimaru scoffed, "More like cut it in half."

The blond scowled as the white haired man snickered, "Heh, don't worry, hime… we'll find the kid. I mean, he's like a new born kid. He couldn't have gone too far."

"And if we can't find him in time of presentation, we'll just have to do the same with the red dog. He seems very healthy and head strong, just like the retriever." Orochimaru walked over to the window. "We tried strays because they were convenient at first, but found they didn't have a reason for living like pet dogs do."

Jiraiya nodded, "Yeah, they live for their owners and they won't die as easily. They cling to life as much as a human would have."

Tsunade sighed again. "Should we go ahead and start the mutation for the red dog, since the black lab looks extremely lazy?"

Orochimaru nodded. "But we'll do that in the morning. Then when we have him stable** I'll** watch him while you two go look for our run away. It'll look better if we present two mutated beings."

;-;-;-;-;-;

Neji had a grim look on his face as he laid down for the night. _'Gaara… I hope your safe.'_

When Neji had first gotten Gaara, it was out of spite. Hiashi was allergic to dogs and had to take meds for it.

Gaara was a birthday present to himself, so his uncle couldn't say no.

It was satisfying. Watching Hiashi curse, sneeze, and break out in random rashes. Hell, he even laughed a few times.

But during that time, Neji didn't bother with Gaara. Hell, for the first couple of months, Gaara didn't even have a name.

/ **Flash Back** /

The long haired brunette walked to the back yard, two bowls in hand and knelt over to set it down. "Here you go. Eat up." he sat back and found the dog was staring at him.

"What? Aren't you hungry? You haven't eaten anything since this morning, so you have to be hungry."

The dog continued to stare at him. Its was a little unnerving.

Neji squatted down, eye level with the red hound… and stared back.

**5 minutes later…**

Neji and Gaara still stared at one another. The Hyuuga got the feeling that the animal was challenging him. Weird, huh?

During the whole thing, Neji noticed the look of wisdom in the dog's eye. Streets smarts, Neji assumed. The dog was a stray when the shelter captured him.

'_I wonder how long he lived on the streets.'_ then suddenly Gaara lunged forwards and almost bit him in the face!

"Jesus! What the hell is wrong with you!" he had yelled and the red dog attacked again and Neji blocked with his forearm; the dog knocked him backwards and sunk his teeth into Neji's arm.

Neji held him off there. Their faces were close and the brunette could see the anger in those aquamarine eyes. _'Did I do something wrong?'_ but if he did, then what could it be? All he did to the dog was feed him! Could it be that the dog was mad because of what he _didn't_ do?

'…_I haven't even given you a name yet.'_

"_**NEJI-NII-SAN!!" **_He turned to see his cousin Hinata standing near the gate entrance, a hand covering her mouth in horror.

Blood flowed down his arm dropped on his face as the dog bit harder. "Dammit."

And then, just like that. He was let go. The hound had let go of him on his own accord and stepped back.

Neji sat up, holding his arm. This was going to leave a mark. And the dog seemed to know that as he started to walk away.

Hinata rushed forward and inspected his arm. She was training to be a doctor so she had some experience in this kind of thing.

"Neji-nii-san, please lets get inside. I don't trust that dog." she started pulling at his sleeve but Neji was still staring at his dog, who was looking over his shoulder. A slight smug expression on his face.

Neji stood up, "…" and walked with Hinata into the house.

That night would be spent arguing that they should get rid of the dog. That it was dangerous and unpredictable.

But Neji didn't see that.

He had deserved what had happened. Because Neji wasn't taking care of the dog the way he was suppose to and the hound seemed to know this. The dog was use to running around, not being kept up in the back all the time.

The next day, Neji walked in the back yard,(his arm was bandaged tightly) two bowls in hand and he knelt down and placed them on the ground.

The dog looked up at him, with an expecting look in his eye.

Neji smiled, "C'mon Gaara. Its time to eat."

/ **End of Flash Back** /

After that, the two were nearly inseparable.

But now they were separated.

And it killed Neji to just lay there and not being able to do anything about it.

;-;-;-;-;-;

Meanwhile, everyone's favorite Uchiha was in a predicament.

He couldn't speak.

The blond just kept looking at him with those big blue eyes.

And he couldn't speak.

The dazzling man said something else.. But he didn't catch it cause-

You guessed it! He couldn't speak.

"Bastard? Are you listening to me?! Oi!"

Sasuke put his hand over the blond's mouth to quiet him while he tried to find his voice.

"D-did," his voice came out uncharacteristically squeaky. "Did y-you just…**lick** me?"

The blond spoke behind his hand and it came out in mumbles, "Say that again?" he moved his appendage.

"I said, I didn't lick you,"

Sasuke sighed, _'Good then it was just my imagina-'_

"-I kissed you!" the blond destroyed all of his hopes and dreams of ignorant bliss with that one statement. He felt like smashing his head into the wall.

"You gave me the name Naruto! Remember?!"

"I gave my **dog** the name Naruto! I remember **that!**" Sasuke blurted out.

"Yeah!" Naruto pointed at him, like Sasuke made a point.

"What?"

"You gave me that name. I'm your dog!" Naruto looked so happy at this. His bastard finally understood!

"But.. You are a human!"

Naruto panicked, this was just like his dream! "I-I know! Those weird people picked me up and changed me! And I escaped and hid in an alley and that's were you found me!!"

"Picked you up?" this was getting weirder by the moment.

"Yeah! And then they took my collar off of me and threw it away somewhere and Gaara- OH MY GOD! I forgot about Gaara!!!" the blond latched onto Sasuke and started shaking him.

"We have to go back! We have to save Gaara before they do the same thing to him that they did to me!!"

Because the blond was yelling, Sasuke unconsciously started yelling, "What did they do to you?!"

Naruto growled, "THEY CHANGED ME INTO A FUCKING HUMAN BASTARD! THAT'S WHAT I'VE BEEN TRYING TO TELL YOU!!" his patience snapping.

Sasuke stared, this guy really was claiming to be his dog. His dog was picked up and the blond was claiming to have been picked up.

Ok.. Ok, and his dog knew Gaara. And this guy claims to know Gaara…

Sasuke's dog disappeared and this guy appeared… this was just too farfetched!

Sasuke breathed, "No." as if trying not to believe him.

Naruto nodded, "Yes."

"No." he breathed again.

Naruto growled. "Yes!"

Sasuke frowned, "No!"

"Yes!"

"No!"

Naruto frowned, "No?"

Sasuke nodded, "Yes!"

The blond's eyes sparkled, "Yes?!"

Sasuke was pissed now, "NO!!!" the raven started pulling at his hair. "Dammit! Stop confusing me!!"

Naruto spoke in a controlled voice, "Look, say anything. Ask me anything and I'll tell you! Let me convince you that I'm your dog! I'm Naruto!!"

Sasuke stared back and decided to humor him, "What did you eat this morning?"

Naruto licked his lips, "Salty noodles!"

Sasuke cocked a brow. "What did we do after that?"

"We ran!"

"Who did we meet on the way?"

"Lee and the bitch!"

Sasuke frowned at the casual way he said it, "Bitch?"

"She is a girl, right?"

Nod.

"Then she's a bitch!"

Sasuke slapped his head, _'He really thinks like a dog.'_

"Who woke me up this morning?"

"ME!"

"How?"

"I jump on you! Its always great hearing you gasp for breath"

"…I still don't believe you."

"What?! But I answered all of your questions right!"

Sasuke looked to the side, _'It can't be.. How is it possible?'_

"Bastard…" Naruto grabbed the Uchiha's chin and looked into his sable eyes, "I can always tell when you are in a good mood or not."

The blond took a deep breath, "You always have this line right here," he touched Sasuke's forehead. "when you are either thinking or upset."

"And when your happy, you walk different. Like there isn't a load on your shoulders. Your steps are lighter." Naruto smiled as Sasuke's expression remained blank.

"But when you are sad, you sit down where I'm at." Naruto was sitting in the middle, "and I would jump up and lay my head in your lap. Then you would smile and pet me." now Sasuke looked shocked.

"Then, when we go to sleep. I would sleep on the side of the bed, close by, just in case you need me." Naruto smiled as he thought about it. "I always noticed. That when you have nightmares, you sleep closer to the edge… closer to me; and then I know that I shouldn't jump on you. I would just kiss you on the face, until you woke up. And you would smile again and pet me."

Sasuke stood abruptly, scaring Naruto. "Bastard…?"

The Uchiha walked towards the kitchen doorway, his back still to the blond.

All those things. They were true… cause Sasuke knew his own habits and he also knew Naruto's.

He had a test. If this guy did the right thing. Then Sasuke would believe him. But if he didn't… he would call the hospital in the morning and get this guy out of here so he could look for his dog.

A couple of months ago, his dog was sick.

The vet said it was a respiratory infection and that the dog would be weak the entire time he was sick.

But Sasuke knew… that every time he said, "Naruto, come." his golden retriever would force himself up, for his master's sake, and come to him. Despite his illness.

This blond had lost a lot of blood. And was in a similar condition as his dog was… weak.

"Naruto…" Sasuke looked over his shoulder and saw the blond had reacted to the name and was waiting anxiously.

The raven held his breath before speaking, "Come."

And with no hesitation at all, Naruto forced himself on his wobbling legs and stumbled towards him.

Naruto fell, but then started to crawl. Still trying to get to him. Still trying to obey.

And all the while, Sasuke had tears in his eyes.

**TBC...**

**-wipes eye- Anyways! **

**I really don't have much to say :) but I'll have the next chapter out soon... prolly the same time it took for this to come out.**

**Anyways, make me deliriously happy and REVIEW!**


	5. Could This Get Any Worse?

**Wow. Its been a while, eh? **

Sorry about the long wait XP Life was a bitch again, and it didn't help that I got a horrible dose of writer's block.

Forgive me/:)

Oh and I'd like to mention that this chapter is dedicated to my beloved Satski! Her birthday is on Saturday!

And then mine is on Sunday!! Yeah-ya! I'm gonna be 18!! 

**...I feel so old! -weeps in a corner-**

**Btw, does anyone know how to put those little quotation marks on the summaries? I've tried and evertime I save it, it shows that I didn't put them there. **

Help me out?

"Dogs talking"  
"People talking"  
_Dogs thinking  
'People thinking'_

- - - - Time change  
;-;-;-;-;-; Location change

**Disclaimer: K. Masashi is selfish and won't share! -pouts and stomps-**

**Can This Get Any Worse?**

"_Mmm, warm… so very warm.'_ Sasuke's mind, body and soul were surrounded by the pleasant heat of his covers.

The thick navy blue curtains did their job of keeping most of the morning sun out, leaving a comfortable dimmed room for Sasuke to wake up to.

'_I'm so comfortable… I don't want to get up.'_

The night before was very stressful. After bringing the blond home and being convinced that **he** was his dog, Sasuke was completely drained of his energy. So he just gave Naruto a cover and told him to sleep on the couch.

And it didn't help that Naruto kept sneaking into his room! Yes, Sasuke would let the dog… er, use-to-be-dog, sleep in his room. And sometimes when it was really cold, he'd even let the retriever sleep in bed with him.

But it was different now. Naruto was different.

Sasuke deeply sighed through his mouth, blowing his bangs out of his face. _'I'll think about it later. Naruto should be waking up soon, I need to get some rest while I can.'_

The raven rolled over, completely ready to doze off again when, "AHHH!!"

He caught sight of his unknown bedmate, (_'He's suppose to be on the fucking couch!'_), who was lying ever so close to him.

Strangely enough, the yell -Sasuke refused to admit that he screamed- didn't wake Naruto up.

'_What am I going to do with him?' _he ran his fingers through his hair as he sat up. Well, Sasuke could go back to sleep… but it felt weird sharing a bed with someone else.

It didn't bother him when Naruto was a dog… but now-

Sasuke still couldn't believe that this man was his retriever. Everything about this seemed so surreal, its was kinda…weird.

Then again, if Sasuke really believed that guy was his dog, then Sasuke shouldn't be acting different towards Naruto.

But… that wasn't the case. Looking at Naruto, Sasuke felt a strange fluttering feeling in the pit of his stomach. It made the Uchiha want to squirm.

Naruto's bangs were a tad bit long, covering his eyes in a yellow veil. Sasuke didn't like that, it made him feel like the blond was hiding from him.

Which was strange… I mean, Naruto's hair was just in his face. Its not like it was intentional.

Sasuke reached forward and moved the bangs out of his dog's… er, the human's face. Naruto's face was handsome, to say the least. From Naruto's defined jaw, to the weird whisker marks on his cheeks; all of those factors went perfectly together.

Especially Naruto's blue irises. Those eyes that stood out the most, glittering and shimmering with every emotion. Even when Naruto was a dog, this one aspect didn't change. And having seen them last night, Sasuke -dare he say it- loved those eyes the most.

Sasuke moved his hand away as Naruto started to shift . "Mmm." Naruto slowly woke, his eyes were blurred with fatigue. Blue eyes caught Sasuke's in its swirling vortex.

Naruto smiled tiredly, while rubbing his eye. "Ohayo, bastard."

Sasuke, having forgotten his earlier anger about Naruto being in his bed, gave a small smile, "Ohayo, Naruto."

Sasuke was more prepared, when Naruto sat up and licked him, on the corner of his mouth. The warm muscle oddly poked past his lips a little, completely startling the raven.

It seemed that there was no way to slow down his heart beat, or stop the small blush forming on his cheeks._ 'Calm down Sasuke. Naruto didn't mean to do that. Naruto is just doing what a dog would normally do.'_ Sasuke frowned, coming up with a revelation,_ 'Naruto is __**still**__ my dog.'_

Naruto knew that if he still had his tail, it would be wagging. He was really hoping that his bastard wouldn't be mad at him for sneaking into his bed again.

Honestly. Naruto didn't see the harm in it. Sharing a bed with his bastard was very comforting and definitely warmer than the couch.

The blond yawned, "M' sleepy." Naruto laid back down, snuggling into the fluffy pillow.

"Are you hungry, Naruto?" Sasuke stood, "You didn't eat anything last night."

Naruto nodded, still smiling tiredly, his eyes glimmering with happiness.

"I'm going to make you something to eat. Don't go back to sleep."

Naruto was still smiling, except this time, his eyes were closed.

In the kitchen, Sasuke was in a dilemma. "Should I get him eggs and bacon? No, that much grease is bad for a dog… dammit! Naruto isn't a dog anymore!"

Sasuke never felt so confused in his life. Then it hit him. _'That's it!'_

Few minutes later…

Sluuurp.

Sasuke sighed, closing his eyes as he bit into his toast.

"Mmm" Smack. Smack. Sluuuurp.

Sasuke's brow twitched.

"Yum, yum, yum." Sluuuuuurp! Smack, smack.

The raven frowned.

"_-belch-_" Naruto wiped his wet mouth on his blue sleeve and dove back for more.

Sasuke gritted his teeth.

Naruto picked up his bowl and brought it to his lips.

Sluuuuuuuuuuuuuuuu-

**Bang!** Sasuke brought his fists down on the table.

Naruto jumped spilling the warm contents over his face. Blink, blink.

Sasuke glared and motioned for Naruto to put the bowl down.

Tap. Naruto slowly set the bowl down.

Sasuke stood, grabbed the kitchen towel and walked over to Naruto and began to wipe the blond's face.

"Maybe ramen wasn't the best choice." the raven mumbled. Naruto smiled, despite being smothered by a thick towel.

- - - -

White paws tapped on the hard wood floor heading to the only occupied room in the house.

Only to find that the door was closed. Dammit.

The dog sat there for a while, contemplating whether or not to claw at the door or just bark. After seeing the numerous claw marks and paint chippings on the corner of the door, he decided to just bark. He needed to get his alpha up, anyway.

"_I need to go potty!" _

ARF! ARF! His loud calls echoed throughout the corridors of the house.

Silence.

A solid thump.

Shuffling and then the door knob turned.

Inuzuka Kiba rubbed his eyes as he looked down at Akamaru, who pleaded with his eyes to be let outside.

"Potty, got it." Kiba mumbled, knowing exactly what his dog wanted.

It was a gorgeous morning, clear blue skies, the birds were singing, Akamaru panting happily as he lifted his leg.

Kiba yawned and grumbled. A couple walking down the street, smiled and waved at him, for no particular reason. Why was it that people were always happy in the morning? It the worst part of the day!

Kiba scratched his stomach as he stood in the door way. Today, he didn't have to go to school. Thank god!

'_Uchiha doesn't have to go either… maybe I'll pay him a visit.'_

Kiba nodded. Yeah, that's what he would do today.

Kiba saw Akamaru bark at some cat across the street, but being the good dog that he was, he didn't chase after it.

ARF! ARF, ARF!! _"Hey! Hey! YOU! What the hell are you doing in my neighborhood?! I have rights to that trash can, get the fuck away from it!!!"_

"C'mon Akamaru! Its time to go back inside!"

"_Aw, but I'm not done setting that cat straight!" _the dog whimpered.

"Sorry buddy, but I want to go over someones place today. You wanna go?"

"_Do you even have to ask?"_ Akamaru barked, wagging his tail in excitement, letting the cat dig into the trash can.

- - - -

Naruto closed his eyes as warm water was poured over his head.

Click. Something thick and cold was poured on his scalp and large hands rubbed and worked it to a lather. Naruto opened his eyes, looking at the bottle his bastard had set down.

"Keep your eyes closed, Naruto."

The tanned blond made an annoyed whine.

Sasuke rubbed Naruto's scalp, thoroughly cleaning it, all the while blushing.

After breakfast, Sasuke began to notice this horrible stench the blond was emitting. Sasuke knew what he needed to do… it would just be… extremely awkward.

He had decided to get the worst part over with, bathing Naruto's body first.

'_He's- Naruto is very… well endowed.'_ Sasuke shook his mind at the memory. Gods… he had openly ogled his dog! What kind of freak was he?!

Sasuke was especially surprised how soft Naruto's skin was, and exactly how **even**his tan was, throughout his body. Hell, even his _-gulps-_ was tanned.

Naruto shivered as the water from his hair ran down his face,_ 'Must not shake. Must not sh-shake.'_

Sasuke poured water on his head again, finishing getting the water out of the blond's head.

"Ok Naruto," Sasuke swallowed, "Stand up."

The blond did as he was told, a little shakily. _'He's getting better at it, he's not even holding on to anything.'_

Naruto moved to step out of the tub, slipped and promptly fell…right on top of Sasuke.

"Shit!" Sasuke cursed, not being able to hold him and Naruto up. The blond was definitely heavier than Sasuke.

The two hit the ground, Sasuke hitting the back of his head, hard, on the ceramic walls.

Naruto sat up hissing, "Bastard, Oh I'm so sorry!"

Sasuke didn't say anything.

The blond saw that Sasuke was foaming slightly at the mouth. "B-bastard? Oi!"

Silence.

- - - -

Shikamaru laid in his cage how he did the days before.

Today… they had came and taken Gaara, but not without a fight. Though it did delay the inevitable. It had taken the white haired man and the raven to get the dog out of the room.

Afterwards, not knowing what to do, the black lab laid there and despite all his laziness, he was starting to get restless.

He found himself sitting up and glancing around the room, pacing in front of the cage door, and he hated to admit it but Shikamaru had started whimpering at one point.

Then, not too long after, Gaara's cries filled the air.

All he could do was sit here.

Many hours later, Shikamaru felt something weird. Every time he heard foot steps getting closer to the door, he would hold his breath. Paranoia maybe? No... that couldn't be it.

Maybe he was hopeful.

Shikamaru found it hard to believe but... he missed his woman. Considerably. Sure her squeaky voice got on his nerves sometimes and she always wanted to play with him... but at least he knew she cared.

Shikamaru really wanted his woman to be the one to walk through that door.

_Tap... tap... tap... Tap._

_"Footsteps." _Shikamaru once again took a deep breath and held it.

The taping sounds slowly got louder and suddenly came to a stop in front of the door._ Looks like they finally have some use for me. _The door clicked and opened.

It was a man. His eyes looked maliciously narrow, his skin was an unhealthy color of white, and ink black hair completed his sinister appearance.

The Shinigami (Death God), Shikamaru decided to name him, slowly came forward. The dog could clearly see a leash in his hands, _Where is he going to take me?_

The black lab didn't fight when the man slipped a choker/leash on him and led him out the doorway.

There wasn't much to say about the hallways. The walls were painted white. Plain and simple.

The Shinigami led him to a door and opened it, but didn't step inside. He just took off the leash and nudged the lab inside, before closing the door.

_Why did he put me in this room?_ At first glance Shikamaru only saw an empty bed in the small white room.

But his ears and nose told him something else, someone was in this room, someone who was crying. _A human?_

Shikamaru's claws tapped in the tiled floor as he looked on the other side of the bed.

There was a human boy in the corner, covers were draped over his frame and in the fetal position. Being man's best friend, Shikamaru's instincts took over; he instantly wanted to ease the boys worries.

The lab wagged his tail and gave a happy whimper, _"Hey there, what's wrong?" _Shika nudged his wet nose against the boys side, _"C'mon, look at me… why are you crying?"_

The boy brought his head up, aquamarine eyes stared into black ones.

"Shikamaru?"

The black lab gasped as he heard his name. _"H-how do you know my name?"_

The covers slipped off of the human's head, revealing blood read hair, "Shikamaru… its me, Gaara." Tears slipped out of the red head's eyes.

- - - -

Kiba was in a predicament.

When he had arrived at Sasuke's apartment, the first thing he had heard was screaming coming from inside.

The brunette had quickly kicked the door open -working out three times a week did wonders, the door didn't stand a chance- and quickly found Sasuke.

…unconscious and underneath a _-gulp-_ naked man, on the bathroom floor.

The blond seemed to have been trying to wake the Uchiha up, and from the distressed tone in his voice, had also been the one that had screamed out.

…did he knock Sasuke out? Should… Kiba start beating the blond up?

Akamaru peeked in, _"Whoa. What happened here?"_

Sasuke chose that time to wake up with a groan.

Sable eyes blinked, seeing the vision of an upside down Kiba standing in the doorway. _'Huh?'_

"W-what? Where am I?"

"Bastard! You're awake! Are you ok?!"

'_Dear god!'_ was Sasuke's only thought when he finally figured out what kind of predicament he was in.

Kiba standing in the bathroom doorway.

Naruto, naked and sopping wet, still sitting on top of him.

Akamaru, tail slightly wagging, had his head peeked in.

"This isn't what it looks like."

Kiba rose his brow, "…you sure?"

"Positive."

Naruto, oblivious to his state of nakedness, smiled at the brunette, "Oh, hi! I didn't see you there!"

Kiba ignored the blond, "Look, I was only playing around yesterday when I said you were gay-"

"-I'm not gay!-"

"-and I would still be your friend even if you are-"

"-I'm not!-" Sasuke pushed Naruto off, reaching for a towel.

"-but it would have been nice if you would have told me!" Kiba hollered over Sasuke. "Jesus Marie Christ! Can you imagine how surprised I was when I came in here?! You, under some naked guy, unconscious!"

Sasuke sighed.

"And who the hell is this guy?!" Kiba pointed, his finger only an inch away from the blond's face.

'…_I'm going to have a hell of a time explaining this.'_ the raven rubbed the back of his head, feeling the lump on his head.

**Tbc..**

- - - -

**So, thats it for this chapter XD I hope that none of you will hold any grudges about how long this update took ;-; sorry! **

And I've been having a crap load of plot bunnies lately. I literally have to force myself not to post them!

Cause lets face it, I need to at least work on the stories that I _have_ posted before I do that.

And your reviews would be the best birthday present for me! 

**Thanks for reading!  
**


End file.
